What Is Kief and What’s the Best Way to Collect It from Your Weed?

Smoking some bud can be fun, but having a bowl full of only kief can be a fun marijuana experience. “Kief” refers to the glandular sacs full of resin that the cannabis plant produces. The sacs are also called trichomes. You’ll also recognize kief as the sticky, crystal-like, dusty stuff that can build up in your grinders or at the bottom of the marijuana container.

About Kief

Kief is full of cannabinoids, such as CBD and THC, plus some terpenes, such as myrcene and limonene. There are more of these substances in the kief than in the rest of the plant. This is why it is one of the most important things to include when you are making extracts or pressed hashish. Sometimes, you can find small bottles or bags of just kief at a dispensary.

You can use kief in several ways, too. You can use it at the top of a bowl before lighting up. Or you can add some to a joint before you roll it. You can even smoke it by itself with nothing else added for a strong high. If you vape kief, you can enjoy the terpenes and cannabinoids and leave all of the ashy residue behind. But it can be hard to take in enough kief to get a good enough buzz. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to collect it, so you have enough for a good high. 

From Your Grinders

It is important for you to have a grinder that has several compartments, including a kief-catcher. This type of grinder has a metal screen, and you can detach the bottom portion, which is the kief tray. This is where your ground cannabis will end up, and the kief that gets dislodged while you are grinding will also end up here. You won’t get that much kief from one bud, so you might need to grind your cannabis several times before you get enough kief for you to use. 

Using Coins

While using your grinder consistently and regularly will eventually get you enough kief to smoke, you can also maximize how much you are collecting. First, try to shake your grinder from side to side after you have ground your cannabis and before taking anything out. Don’t shake it up and down because that can move the kief back through your buds, which does not make that an efficient method. 

You can also use a “grinder coin” in the tool. All you have to do is to add a coin to it, such as a quarter or a penny. You will add this to the area where you have the kief collection compartment. When you add the coin, it can agitate the items inside more, and that can dislodge a few more bits of kief than you might otherwise have.

Using a Silkscreen or Cheesecloth

If you want to get every last bit of kief out, so you can get the most for your money, you can use a silkscreen or a cheesecloth. If you move the bud over the screen, then it is similar to using a grinder. The screen or finer cloth can sift out every larger bit of plant material. The screening process is also used to make hash in the traditional method.

Razors, Spoons, or Spatulas

Once you have some kief at the bottom of the grinder, it is time to collect it. But you might be wondering how you can do this without wasting it. The trichomes of the marijuana plant are known for being fragile. If you press on the kief too hard, the sacs with resin in them can pop and leave a sticky substance on the bottom of the kief compartment. The good news is that a lot of grinders already come with small spatulas for moving the kief out of the grinder and into your joint or bong. 

If your grinder did not come with a tiny spatula, then look for spoons sold for babies, which can work the same way. If you have a razor blade that fits in the catcher, this can also be helpful for scraping out your kief. If you don’t have one, you can also use a toothpick, screw, or a tiny paintbrush. 

Making the Kief Cold

Sometimes it can be difficult to scrape out the kief, particularly if it is warm in your area. Because the kief is pretty much small oil sacs, it can melt when exposed to too much heat. Even the friction that scraping creates can generate enough heat to make the oil sacs melt. 

To prevent making a sticky mess and wasting the kief, consider placing the entire grinder in the fridge. Or you can put it in your freezer for a couple of minutes. It is not necessary to leave it in the freezer long enough to freeze; a few minutes will be enough. Remember that the tools that you use might also transfer a bit of heat to the kief, so you might want to put them in the freezer for a few minutes, as well. This is especially true if you are using metal tools to transfer your kief.

Closing Thoughts 

To get your kief, you just need to follow three steps. This involves agitation for knocking the kief off the buds, separating your kief from your flower, and then using scraping to move the kief from your grinder to a vaping or a smoking device. There are many ways to consume kief, such as putting it in your bong or rolling it into a joint. Kief is a fun way of using marijuana while reducing the potential toxins that the plant might produce while you are burning it.

Just remember that you can still cough while consuming kief because you might still be combusting it. It is a good idea to have a cup of cold water ready in case you inhale more than you intended. This can be soothing for an irritated throat.